It’s Been A Good Week

When I first started this blog, I used to go out for my long run on Sunday and compose a post in my head whilst on the trail. I’ve kind of slipped away from that. Well not today! I’m going back to basics baby!

Today just so happens to be Week 3 Day 1 of half-marathon training for me! I am now training for the Mountains 2 Beach Half in California, while Jamesy is training for the full. I’ll hopefully be coloring in another big state on my map! (My map! Where is my map?! I need to update my map!)

And you may be wondering how James has been doing as he’s let his blogging slip wayward (just as I have). He’s doing great! He did the Seattle Hot Chocolate 15K two weeks ago (yeah, yeah, yeah… I know… I still need to share what happened with me there) and then last weekend he ran the Lake Sammamish Half. His back pain from the herniated disk still comes and goes, but he rested all last week, went for an 8-mile run today, and now feels wonderful! He has, however, been on the bike trainer, so it’s not like he’s just laid around doing nothing.

Anyway, back to Mountains 2 Beach… we signed up for this race last year, the day registration opened. It is a gradual net downhill course, and if one is trained properly, possible PR potential, not to mention it’s a huge BQ possibility (Boston Qualifier). Obviously we’re not trying to qualify for Boston, but the point is, it has potential to be a fast course. A chance to redeem myself from 2 weeks ago.

And like I said, today was Week 3 Day 1 of training, #longrunSunday. 4 miles. Never mind the fact that I ran 8 last Sunday to complete a SquadRunner mission. SquadRunner and training plans… it’s going to be interesting to see how the two complement each other as I will always choose the higher mileage for our SquadRunner team and mission’s bonus points over what my plan says. Next week is filled with easy-to-complete missions every single day… looks like I’ll be taking on a little run streak and will have to force myself to rest next Saturday to nail the long run on Sunday.

And oh yeah… my 175-mile winter challenge… you know, the one that went from December to March? I’m almost done! Only 19 more miles left! Between that and SquadRunner, I managed to keep my base fitness through the cold winter months! Booyah! Welcome to Spring!

(Feel like I’m rambling much? Absolutely! It’s what I do best!)

Oh, by the way… we got our first baby in at the wildlife center. Yep. A cottontail. One month from now, we’ll have dozens upon dozens. Hey. It’s what we do… rescue, rehab, release. 🙂

Happy Trails!

Just a fun pic… I got new running sunnies, so AJ and I were playing around and being dorks. He’s kinda tall these days.

I should probably write a post to explain, which I think I will, but SquadRunner is an app where you compete with other teams all over the world for points and glory. The teams are made up of 20 runners each (you form your own team), and points are accumulated by runs, mission bonus points, boosting other team members, and answering daily quizzes. I seem to be more consistent and do better being motivated by my team than just motivating myself. Search for the app and check it out. We have 2 Canadians on our team, 2 people who live in Germany, 1 from the UK, and the rest are all across the U.S.

Yes, you can join any team, but you’ll have a better experience if you connect with someone on a team. For instance, we have our own communication channel and have recruited our own runners. Do you have twitter or instagram? If you’re interested in joing a team, I would be happy to help find you one. Or you can create your own team, 😊

I do have Instagram. Is that where I should go looking for a team? I thought this was just an app? Sorry I love the idea of having an idea of what to run each day, but don’t know anything about this. I imagine you’re right that it’s way more fun to connect or have a friend on your team.

They’re more on twitter, but only because twitter has such a huge running community. You actually don’t have to be on either to do SquadRunner. And yes, it’s an app, but an interactive app where you communicate with team members, and the app does have a chat area for communication.

I have put out my feelers to see if anyone I know needs a team member. But in the meantime, you could download the app and check it out. The team I’m on is called Runnin Down A Dream. There are like 600 to 800 different teams, I believe. Another thing you could do is, if you find a team that has less than 20 members, you could message the captain and ask if they are looking for another team member. 😊 But be aware that these are runners from all over the world so some teams won’t speak English.

Glad James feels good after the week of cross training, despite a longish run!
And great job keeping the base. I can see how SquadRunner played a role in that 🙂
Also, yeah… as someone who’s following a plan and competitively trying to get missions, just prepare to be flexible and smart! As my base guidelines, I maintain one rest day a week, do all my speed and long workouts, and try to move other runs around as per mission. 🙂

I’m supposed to have a rest day today, but 4 miles hardly warrants that, so I can go get that 60-min mission this afternoon, along with the rest of the week, cross train on Friday, rest on Saturday, then extend my long run next Sunday to accommodate next weekend’s mission. This week the missions are coordinating nicely with my plan, 😁… total win, 🙌

I know. That’s nice for me too. If only Thursday would behave a little with my rest days. But I figure, I can also do a double day on Wednesday. The evening run could be after 6 PM and then still count for Thursday! Ha!
And the mission today runs through tomorrow, so if you feel like you want the rest day then (and rest days are good and important!) then you can always still do that!

See, now that you’re in the states, you’re getting the advantage of the time difference. I always do the next day’s mission in the evening because no way am I getting up at 3:30 to run, hahaha (see what I did there? Giggling because you recently had to do that, 🤣😂) #youarededicated #totalrespect

ha ha. I’m never doing that again (I say now ;-)) I have a lot of respect for those people too. But yeah, the time difference thing is a kind of strategy and plus for us! I’m going to miss it when I’m back in Berlin.

Hiya Paula!!
I just nominated you for The Mystery Blogger Award!
Info is in my latest post. I love blog and enjoy reading your posts!!
If you don’t have time to post or if you’ve already been nominated…..no worries! I Just wanted to ‘pay it forward’ and highlight some awesome bloggers!!
Luv CJ x